Alcoholism Support Group

Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.

What will it take?

I continue to drink even though my kidneys hurt, I have a bladder infection, and it makes me feel bad physically when I drink. Am I going to have to be on my death bed before I stop picking up that damn bottle? Why does an intelligent person make such a stupid decision day after day regardless of the repercussions?

I ask myself this everytime I drink. I reolized I'm always chaseing that first drink. I'm only on day 6, but I know how you feel my body feels polluted. I would have never done this to anyone else, why do I do it to myself.

I know if I (we) wait too long, even though we are young we will come to a point of no return.

You can do it, just look at all the people on here that have years, can you amagine that, it's hard for me to picture right now, but they did it. Some with AA, others just with DS. We can do it too, hopefully before it's too late.

Alcoholism or related addictions have nothing to do with the intelligence level of the sufferer. In the course of our drinking careers, we sucessfully rewired our brains to CRAVE the alcohol or drug of choice.

Cravings are as rudimentary as hunger or the urge to urinate. This is driven by a part of the brain as old as animal life itself. It is totally apart from the higher levels of conscience thought that define who we as human beings really are.

The good news is that you can use that God given intelligence to reverse the process. In time, the brain will rewire itself to adapt to the absence of drug, just as it had for the presence of drug.

The bad news is that you need to work your ass off for that process to take place. Some people call this , &quot;working the steps,&quot; while others call it &quot;the process of recovery.&quot; No matter how you label it, it means that you need to get active in some sort of support group. Unfortunely, you can not think yourself out of this box.

Keep your intelligence, but shed your tendency to isolate. Become social as God intended us to do so. IOW, get out of yourself and get into Life!

I went over to my friend's house and his poor dog was just howling loudly away. Like a primal screaming banshee, hurt and wailing, this dog was sitting there, just madly and sadly howling away with angst and with pain.

It's called &quot;addiction&quot;. Both physical and mental. It's no fun to die from alcoholism though, so you need to make a decision. How badly do you want to stop? If you're serious, you'll do whatever it takes. That might mean AA or rehab. It also means admitting that you have a problem to others around you. What kind of action will you take TODAY to stop this? (other than good intentions).

You can get out of this mess and you can feel a lot better. In 90 days, you could be a much happier person, working out your sobriety each day (but enjoying life). Give it a try!

I used to think that about myself aswell. I also couldn't remember what I used to get up to when I didn't drink so much. I work in aged care and seeing people suffering so much from liver failure, lung failure, diabetes...It was a wake up call to say the least. I pictured myself like that and cursing myself for letting it get like that. You are still young, intelligent and STRONG.
As Dr Phil says &quot;Acknowledging the problem is the first step...&quot; and you've done that. We're here for you hun.

Thank you all so much. You have really given me some insight.
I can do it, I know. I am strong in every other way. Thank you all again. I am going to start really using this group as support. It's what I need.

Hi Amy, It's insane huh. But we do it, day after day. There's a lot of support here, and we're happy to share our experiences with you, so stick around. For me I went to rehab which opened up the doors to AA and other much needed counselling. Amy, hopefully you've visited your Docs regarding your pains and been honest there. If not, you need to. Get a complete checkup and get a plan together to stay sober yeah. Don't wait for your death bed, you may miss the wake-up call. Time for change. CM xxx

I'm beginning to think that rehab is what it's going to take. I'm willing to do that to be healthy but wonder how I can fit it into my life.
Thank you so much for caring about a complete stranger. But I guess we are not really strangers when it all boils down.

Amy, I understand when you say how it can fit into your life. I had that fear too, but it just got to a stage where I didn't have much of a life, and the one I did wasn't going to last very much longer if I didn't do something about it.

I left my 3 yo daughter for 3 months to go to rehab and I had no idea what would happen with my career (just over 17 years in the Navy at that stage). If I had to put up with rehab for 3 months, and it gave me the tools I needed to live and be a presence in my daughters life, than it was worth giving it a shot. I've been sober ever since that day. My daughter is a happy vibrant active 14yo, and so is her Mother (well, act 14 sometimes lol). And I went on to complete 20 years in the Navy.

Amy, there's three elements to my sobriety that I believe has made it work for me. The first is I wanted it. My motivation is the WANT inside of me that get's me moving towards goals. The second, is I do absolutely everything necessary to stay sober, and the third is the knowledge that I never have to go through any of life's hurdles alone. No Amy, your no stranger. :} CM xxx

Amy, I applaud your explorations on this site. It's so great. I agree that maybe detox and rehab, if you can do is the absolutely ideal way to go. I detoxed at home with no medical support and as I say &quot;Kids, don't try this at home&quot; - i had a very rough time of it. Some people have no other option and have to do what I did, but if you can do it in a supported (in my view preferrably 12 step oriented facility), you'll up your chances of success and be properly looked after in the meantime.

Put it this way, starting with getting off the booze and staying off it One Day at a Time, put in place every variable possible to get you sober and keep you sober. This is what I thought in early recovery and 10 years later still believe. So with detox, Rehab, Stay off One Drink for One Day, go to AA meetings (NA if that's your poison too) - go to gazillions of them, find a sponsor, work the Steps, read the literature, hang around other people in recovery who are serious about recovery (not people offering their own Pop Psychology view of things, but sticking the basic precepts of AA), call another AA member every single day in early recovery, and eventually when you have the arsenal of recovery under your belt - offer it to someone else.

Of course, no-one can get all that all perfect all the time, but it's the basic drill.

At the late stages of alcoholism, many suffer from degrading health issues--typically all related to the destruction from alcohol. At this stage, extended inpatient addiction rehabilitation is almost always indicated.

HOWEVER, there are outpatient programs that work for many people. Many refer to it as Intensive Outpatient Therapy (IOT). Ask your doctor what he thinks is the best for you and then consider your options. BUT, do consider them! Doing nothing is the worst thing you can choose to do. That is unless, &quot;doing nothing&quot; means doing no drugs or alcohol. :-)

Amy.
I was in the same place as you. I have recently lost my home, car and family, and I have been in the AA program 4 months, but have never managed more than 2 weeks of sobriety. Yesturday I moved into a disgusting room in bedsit land and today I soiled myself in the street.
I was arrogant about my addiction and I thought I could sponsor myself. Now I struggle just to drink water most days. Amy alcohol will take away EVERYTHING before it kills you. I have no pride or dignity left. And I have only been drinking for 2 years. Take action now. Be humble, reach out and get into AA. I underestimated the power of alcohol. Please don't do the same. Take care, Michelle

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